Equilibrium
by LastChancetoBreathe
Summary: No matter how much he disliked the Flash, no one deserved to die by spleen regurgitation. No slash.


I bounce around fandoms like nobody's business. And since my beloved _Flash_ is done until the fall, I've bounced on over here.

No slash as always, just some Leonard and Barry starting to get along, which I assume will be the case when _Legends of Tomorrow_ comes out. (Can't _wait_ for that show!) Also, this takes place between "Rogue Air" and "Fast Enough."

Disclaimer: I do not own _The Flash_.

* * *

The week was turning into a nightmare.

Ever since Cold and his little band of ne'er do wells escaped his custody, Barry felt on edge no matter where he went. Although Snart promised not to reveal his identity to anyone, the speedster couldn't help but think that the man lied about that too and any second now Mardon or Mick Rory or _somebody_ would ambush him, not only when he was zipping around as the Flash, but when he was at his day job, or worse… _his home_. Then there was the ever-present threat that Wells or Thawne or _whatever_ his name was would come back with some new scheme.

The guilt, worry, and nerves ate at him and made his job that much harder. He couldn't concentrate and even relatively simple tasks like stopping a burglary in process were difficult.

Which is why he was in no way prepared for the next meta that hit Central City.

"What can this guy do anyway?" Barry asked as he ran to where the latest super-powered wackjob was currently terrorizing the District Office.

"I'm not sure exactly," Cisco sounded like he was enjoying one of his slurpies. Entirely too relaxed.

"Any _hints_ you might be able to give me?" Barry tried to keep the frustration from his tone, but he didn't think he was entirely successful.

Caitlin came on the line then, probably sensing his irritation. "As far as we can tell, he seems to have some sort of ability to knock people off their feet just by looking at them."

"And you're sure this isn't Grodd?" That's just what he needed on top of this disaster of a week: a telepathic gorilla.

 _Telepathic gorilla_. How was this his life?

"These attacks don't match Grodd's profile. For one, the man causing all of the problems seems to be in control. He doesn't have that zombie-look that Grodd's pawns do. He also doesn't seem to be causing people pain, more just…discombobulating them."

"Smaller words, Caitlin," Cisco piped up.

"Any reason he's attacking the District Office?" Barry asked.

" _Attacking_ is probably not the best word for it," she said.

"How else should I put it? _Impolitely visiting_ the District Office?"

She sighed. "He looks like he's going through case files, probably trying to get his hands on a court order or something."

"So he's probably doing this _for_ someone, to get them off the hook or something."

"Probably," Cisco chimed in. "Go get him, buddy. I think you'll be fine as long as you don't let him look directly at you."

"You _think_? That's encouraging." Barry made it to the District Office and zipped inside, bypassing all the doors on the first floor and heading to the second where many of court case files were kept.

As he approached the room the meta was in, he passed several people who were flopping about in the hallway, looking like they were blind drunk. They didn't appear to have any serious harm done to them though.

"Last door on the left," Cisco directed.

Barry flew into the room, getting a quick idea of where the meta was and snatching the file the man had out of his hands. He thumbed through it, seeing that it was a file on a family in WITSEC. "Sorry, dude, can't let you have this."

The man chuckled. "I was wondering when you would show up. I've been waiting for you."

That wasn't at all ominous.

"Do you even know what that man has done?" he continued, gesturing to the file in the speedster's hand.

"No, but I know he's got his whole family with him and I can't let you go to do who knows what to them." Barry was careful to keep his gaze just to the left of the man to avoid direct eye contact.

"I had a feeling we would disagree." The man flung out his hand.

Barry suddenly felt like he was spinning. He staggered to the right, trying to find his balance. He barely felt it when the meta took the file from his hand and waltzed out the door. "Guys, he can do it without making eye contact."

"Really? Cool!" Cisco chirped.

"Not cool, dude!" He bit back.

"Are you alright, Barry?" Caitlin asked.

He took a moment to close his eyes and concentrate. The dizzy sensation started to dissipate. "Yeah, it's only temporary. I'm already feeling better."

"What's it like, man?" Cisco's enthusiasm could not be dampened.

"Like having a bad case of Vertigo."

"Well that's no good. The Arrow's already got Count Vertigo….hmm…I know! We'll call him Equilibrium!"

"Nicknames are _really_ not important right now," Barry said as he finally felt well enough to open his eyes. "I'm giving chase. I think if I get to him fast enough, I should be able to avoid getting whammied again."

"Be careful!" Caitlin called.

He zipped out onto the street, running to the left first and, when it became apparent that the meta had not gone that way, turning around and running back to the right of the District Office. Looking at cars as he passed by them, he saw no indication that the man had taken a getaway car. Barry started looking in alleys and alcoves for the meta, since it seemed more likely that the man would be hiding instead of running.

He got to the end of the fifth alley and came to a halt, shaking his head. "Guys? Any way we could speed this up? Anything indicating this guy is around here somewhere?"

They didn't have a chance to respond before he felt huge hands clamp down on either side of his head. "Didn't think that would hold you down for long. Why don't you try this on for size?"

The dizzying sensation came back, but this time it was nearly triple in its intensity. Barry's vision blurred, he lost all sense of balance and crashed to the ground. Nausea hit him so hard, he barely had time to roll over before he was throwing up.

"Follow me now, if you can," he faintly heard the meta taunt, but it was lost in the swirl of voices from his com unit and the blur of colors and sounds from the street.

Barry tore at his headset, desperate to get cut out some of the noise adding to his disorientation, and crumpled the com unit in his fist. But the spinning feeling only seemed to increase. He couldn't even tell if he was still on the ground or if he'd managed to get to his knees. He felt like he'd moved, but he was so disorientated, he couldn't be sure.

Another wave of nausea hit and he threw up again.

* * *

Leonard Snart didn't much care for interfering in the lives of other metas. They could wreak as much havoc as they wanted as long as they stayed out of his way.

This new meta in town was _not_ staying out of his way.

As soon as he heard that the District Office was under attack, he'd grabbed his cold gun and taken off. He nearly ran into the man just as the meta emerged from a nearby alley, clutching a folder in one hand.

The man took one glance at his clothing and snorted, "And who are you supposed to be? One of Flash's allies?"

"Nope." Leonard blasted him directly in the chest, freezing everything but his arms and lower legs. Sometimes it was just wiser to shoot first and pun later. Who knew what this guy could do?

He stepped forward and pried the file free from the meta's fingers. "I just can't have you freezing my assets."

A groan from the alley that the man had just appeared from caught Len's attention. He rested the barrel of his gun against his shoulder and strolled forward to see what was going on.

Might as well, since the Flash seemed to be failing on his "stop-a-meta" duties.

He rounded a dumpster and found the reason for that failure.

The speedster was face down on the ground, his cowl hanging around his neck, and a sizeable pile of vomit a few inches from where he lay. He gasped, tears streaming down his cheeks, and kept clenching at the pavement as if he wanted to get up, but couldn't find the strength to.

"What's the matter with you, Scarlet?"

Barry didn't reply. In fact, Len wasn't even certain that the speedster had heard him. The hero just groaned and shook so hard, his head slapped the ground.

Leonard frowned and thought about leaving him there, but then the kid threw up again. No matter how much he disliked the Flash, no one deserved to die by spleen regurgitation. Besides, the kid made things more interesting, forced him to up his game, become a better thief.

 _This was_ _definitely_ _not in the plan today_. Nevertheless, he crouched down next to where Barry was doing his best to shake himself to pieces and grabbed an arm to pull the kid onto his side.

Barry looked even worse up close, face red and blotchy, tears continuously staining his cheeks. His eyes fluttered open, but didn't seem to be able to focus. "Wh-Who?"

"Relax, Scarlet, I try not to kick a man when he's down." He tried to help the kid into a sitting position, but the speedster kept flopping all over the place, making it hard to get a good grip on him.

"Th-The…you h-have to….f-file," Barry groaned, his fingers suddenly clamping down hard on Leonard's arm.

"Calm down. What do you want?"

The kid took a huge gulp of air. The strain was visible in the veins on the side of his face as he tried to concentrate. "The…meta…after a….file. Gotta….gotta stop…him."

Cold rolled his eyes. One-track mind, these hero types. "Don't worry, he didn't get away. I got the file right here."

He waved the item in front of Barry's face.

The kid convulsed once, twice, then asked, "The meta?"

"Pretty sure he's dead, unless he can breathe ice."

Barry was already frowning, but a new displeasure joined the lines of pain. "Shouldn't…kill…"

"Give it a rest, will you? Pretty sure he's going to kill you if we don't get you out of here and give you some fluids."

As if to confirm his point, the speedster jerked forward and threw up again, barely missing Leonard's boots.

"Alright, that's it. Let's go." Cold stood up and dragged Barry up with him. The kid staggered, swaying hard to the right. He attempted to correct the imbalance and jerked hard to the left and ran right into Len's chest.

Snart sighed. "This isn't going to work. But you throw up on me and we're going to have problems."

That was the only warning he gave before he hoisted the speedster over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"You owe me big time, Flash."

* * *

Barry felt like he'd been hollowed out, as if he hadn't eaten in a week and had cried for hours on top of that. And, even though he was just waking up, exhaustion tugged at him, urging him to go back to sleep.

But he couldn't ignore the feeling that he _needed_ to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he saw the reason for that feeling.

He had _no_ idea where he was.

It looked like some sort of apartment, tidy and bare, as if the owner had just moved in and hadn't had time to decorate. The only furniture in the room was the bed he was lying on and a small nightstand, along with an IV stand that was hooked up to him.

 _Weird_.

He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye and directed his attention to the door that probably led to the kitchen/living room portion of the apartment. He got his second start of the past few minutes when he saw Captain Cold glaring at him.

"Snart?"

The man jabbed a finger in his direction. "I'm sending you a cleaning bill."

"What?"

"And seeing that you're on the mend, I'll be on my way. I'm taking the IV with me though. Medical supplies are hard to come by." He came into the room, keeping a good two feet between him and Barry as if he expected the speedster to projectile vomit on him.

The speedster himself couldn't help but feel disoriented. "What happened? How did I get here? Why are _you_ here?"

"Just give me the IV and let's be done here." Snart demanded.

"Wait…the meta…you…saved me?" The idea baffled him. " _Why?_ "

Leonard grinned. "Well, now you owe me your life twice over…I'm sure that'll come in handy at some point in the future when I need you to look the other way while I relieve someone of their possessions."

Barry frowned. "Don't count on it. Besides, you killed the meta, which puts you right back on my bad side."

Cold rolled his eyes. "IV, _now_."

Barry started to pull out the IV. "Why _did_ you stop the meta? It's not like you to play hero."

"The family in WITSEC is of interest to me…possible candidates for my Rogues. Can't have them wiped out before they could be of use, now could I?"

"Of course you have some ulterior motive," he grumbled as he handed over the IV.

"Did you expect anything else from me?" Snart grinned and wrapped the IV line carefully around the pole before picking it up and walking towards the door.

"Cold," Barry called.

The man paused at the door. "Yes?"

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. The couple that owns this apartment should be home any minute now. I'd get going before you give them an opportunity to have you arrested for breaking and entering."

"Shoot!" Barry shot off the bed and made sure everything looked straight and neat before he zoomed out of the apartment.

Cold's laughter followed him down the hall.

The next day he received a drycleaning bill for one large parka.


End file.
